Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC) brought producers, academia and industry experts together for discussions, presentations and panels Nov. 12-14 at the 2024 annual meeting in Arlington, Texas. 

Dairies that rely on embryo transfer often achieve success rates similar to artificial insemination (A.I.). Plus, in times of heat stress, pregnancies resulting from embryo transfer may exceed those of A.I., with some dairies reporting pregnancy rates as much as 10 or more percentage points higher for embryos. Yet, positive outcomes are not possible without a commitment to quality ­­– of embryos and transfer techniques.

Early summer generally provides the highest-quality forage of the production cycle. Producers frequently assume most nutrient requirements are met, yet many nutritional and metabolic details are overlooked.

Sire overconditioning is a prevalent issue in the beef industry. While “fat sells” when it comes to selling bulls, research has shown that excessive conditioning can negatively affect semen quality.

Assisted reproductive techniques have revolutionized the field of animal breeding, as these techniques allow practitioners and scientists the ability to perpetuate the genetics of superior animals; cryopreserve genetic materials such as embryos, oocytes and sperm; allow shipping and transport of genetic material globally; enable selection and control of the sex ratio; and facilitate cloning and stem cell research.

Cloning allows you to produce an identical twin from a rockstar animal, just born at a later place and time. It allows a producer to reap the benefits of that “once in a lifetime” animal more than once in a lifetime.

La plupart des producteurs laitiers travaillent selon une routine stricte avec laquelle ils se sentent confortables. Ce confort va bien au-delà des tâches quotidiennes de la salle de traite et affecte les programmes d’élevage, impactant probablement certaines variations de la détection des chaleurs, de la synchronisation des chaleurs, de l’insémination artificielle (IA) et potentiellement de la fécondation in vitro (FIV) suivie du transfert d’embryon (TE).

Most dairy farmers labor under a strict routine they feel comfortable with. This comfort reaches well beyond daily milking parlor tasks and affects cattle breeding programs, likely touching on some variations of heat detection, estrus synchronization, artificial insemination (A.I.) and potentially in vitro fertilization (IVF), followed by embryo transfer (ET).